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Too Many Video Streaming Choices May Drive Users Back To Piracy

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Re: Too Many Video Streaming Choices May Drive Users Back To Piracy

#181

Post by mcv »

scarface74 wrote: post #162
TeMPOraL wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would hope so, but Disney is already known for repeatedly pulling out old works from the market and re-releasing them later on, since AFAIK the VCR era, so I wouldn't bet on them refraining from shenanigans on their streaming service.

The CEO of Disney has said that the "Disney Vault" concept is dead. That being said, they still have to wait for licensing deals to expire to have everything on Disney+.

I guess I need to check carefully what they're going to offer before I sign up.

Also, I may have to wait until my smart TV supports it. We never had these kind of problems when we just had cable. (Or did we?)

Re: Too Many Video Streaming Choices May Drive Users Back To Piracy

#182

Post by ocdtrekkie »

Freak_NL wrote: post #134
ocdtrekkie wrote: post #60

Ugh, I am so sick of the "if all of the content I ever want isn't available for less than a single $10 a month sub, I'll pirate it" nonsense. Netflix was never going to be the be-all, end-all of content and its time our generation grew up a little bit. For the amount of content you could get in a traditional cable package, you should expect to pay about as much as a traditional cable package.

Why? A subscription to Netflix already grants me access to way more than I can reasonably watch. If my tastes were perfectly aligned with what Netflix offers (or Disney, or Amazon Prime, et cetera), I could live this exact scenario of everything I could want for less than $10 a month (and some people do). But if my interests are even slightly more eclectic, I get to pay for each service separately, which is silly if…

> A subscription to Netflix already grants me access to way more than I can reasonably watch. If my tastes were perfectly aligned with what Netflix offers

Your primary issue here is referring to volume. Netflix has their own content, then pays for a small handful of extremely popular/valuable titles (see the recent Seinfeld and Big Bang Theory streaming deals, as an example), and then the rest of their content library is cheap trash they got for pennies on the dollar. Entire markets now exist for making cheap movies just to fill out streaming catalogs. (Check out the business model of a company called The Asylum[1].)

Most of the value you're getting is in a very small portion of the overall library of any given company. People aren't going to stay subscribed to Disney+ because it has some old Disney shows which are $10 one-time to own on DVD. They're going to stay subscribed because it has the very latest handful of Disney titles.

[1] https://www.gq.com/story/sharknado-atlantic-rim-pacific-rim-...

Re: Too Many Video Streaming Choices May Drive Users Back To Piracy

#183

Post by jsutton »

DHPersonal wrote: post #130
jadams5 wrote: post #116

10'ish years ago I remember people being mad at the cable companies for bundling all the channels together into all-or-nothing options. Why did I have to pay for ESPN when I just want the SciFi channel? Here we are today with lots of options where you only pay for what you want and now people want them all bundled back together again!

That's why I don't really believe people who claim that having to pick a streaming service is a burden too great to bear and can only be resolved through piracy. I don't think the issue is too little choice, too much choice, too much cost, or two much mental overhead—I think they just want to pirate and find a reason to use for the moment.

Why is that hard to believe? If you only have a few shows that you want to watch, and each is on a different streaming service, is it unreasonable to balk at having to pay for several different services (each at over $10 a month) just for a few shows?

Re: Too Many Video Streaming Choices May Drive Users Back To Piracy

#184

Post by scarface74 »

mcv wrote: post #181
scarface74 wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The CEO of Disney has said that the "Disney Vault" concept is dead. That being said, they still have to wait for licensing deals to expire to have everything on Disney+.

I guess I need to check carefully what they're going to offer before I sign up. Also, I may have to wait until my smart TV supports it. We never had these kind of problems when we just had cable. (Or did we?)

https://attractionsmagazine.com/disney-plus-day-one-list/

Re: Too Many Video Streaming Choices May Drive Users Back To Piracy

#185

Post by theelous3 »

Snoddas wrote: post #140
lucasverra wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

simpler method trick 1) Create virtual card 2) Switch payment method to new card 3) Delete virtual card 4) Cha ching !

In Sweden at least "non payment" is not a valid way to cancel a service. You could end up with late fees and debt-collectors after you instead.

You pay for access, not for use, so there is no way of incurring debt.

Re: Too Many Video Streaming Choices May Drive Users Back To Piracy

#186

Post by magashna »

ozim wrote: post #152

Just fix your FOMO and you don't have to pay for all crap you will never use. I did not watched any episode of GoT and I don't feel like I missed something in my life. Occasionally I don't get some reference. I also don't run into people who are "omg you really did not watched any of it? so great series", even if I would run into this kind, I could not care less about it anyway.

It seems like everyone hated the last season so I feel justified in not watching now

Re: Too Many Video Streaming Choices May Drive Users Back To Piracy

#187

Post by denvrede »

neuronic wrote: post #65

Germans/Europeans might feel with me: I had the pleasure of using Sky to watch Game of Thrones and a few movies and it was the most abysmal experience I have ever had. Your account is an email combined with a 4-digit NUMERIC-ONLY (!) "password" and once you are hyper-securely logged in the amount of usability pain a single piece of software can cause will immediately become apparent. How can anything paid by a big co…

Thanks for the reminder to cancel the Sky Ticket subscription. I feel you. The most frustrating thing are their SmartTV and AppleTV apps. If you watched an episode or a movie you can't start it again because it will start, jump to the end and will either recommend to start the next episode (in the case of a show) or do nothing (in case of a movie).

You have to "reset" the content in you iOS app and can then watch it on your other devices. Sky is cancer.

Re: Too Many Video Streaming Choices May Drive Users Back To Piracy

#188

Post by [deleted] »

jsutton wrote: post #183
DHPersonal wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's why I don't really believe people who claim that having to pick a streaming service is a burden too great to bear and can only be resolved through piracy. I don't think the issue is too little choice, too much choice, too much cost, or two much mental overhead—I think they just want to pirate and find a reason to use for the moment.

Why is that hard to believe? If you only have a few shows that you want to watch, and each is on a different streaming service, is it unreasonable to balk at having to pay for several different services (each at over $10 a month) just for a few shows?

[deleted]

Re: Too Many Video Streaming Choices May Drive Users Back To Piracy

#189

Post by gremlinsinc »

I'd say many never stopped.. to feel legit they maybe bought netflix and hulu, but still pirated HBO or network tv. I can see people maybe getting Netflix and Disney+ and maybe Apple ...and then streaming from tv show sites anything they're missing....

They need to have a bundled app like $60 gets you Amazon, Netflix, Disney, Apple, HBO, and Sling/Philo ...

Make it so each provider can sell the bundle and they get 30% more of the total sale...

If I had money and connections I'd love to start this startup... If you only took 6% to make it lucrative for the companies involved, then split it x ways with the bundled providers

Better yet philo or sling should do this since they already have the live tv parts, it would be a natural replacement for Cable. Or they could all just join forces and create a unified platform.

Added bonus is there's only one bill.

Re: Too Many Video Streaming Choices May Drive Users Back To Piracy

#190

Post by navigatesol »

eyegor wrote: post #123
sbarre wrote: post #6

"May" drive them back? This has already happened in my circles.. People who had cut the cord but all but walked away from casual piracy and signed up for Netflix and HBO (and probably Prime Video because they had Amazon Prime already) are openly talking about the fact they're definitely not signing up for more streaming services, and are seeking out torrenting again for the stuff that's being pulled from Netflix (esp…

This is why in my circle we set up the town pump plex server. Originally it was for streaming older movies (pre 1970) which you can't stream from any major service but the new era of fragmentation has drastically expanded it. We bought a retired datacenter rack and everyone contributes a few bucks a month to cover running costs. Then we have scripts scraping the top x movies/shows from torrent sites once a week and a…

>We bought a retired datacenter rack and everyone contributes a few bucks a month to cover running costs.

Everyone does a bit of pirating here and there, and I think the media companies realize it's a cost of doing business. But something tells me they wouldn't look too fondly on an organised, multi-user pirated content distribution platform...

Here in Canada there are some big chains (Best Buy, Staples) being sued for telling people at point-of-purchase that they can watch free content on an Android box.

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